Apothican monkeys

[anonymous]

Old boy Radzakpak recently brought up a poster encountered in Five, now with it's remaster finally fully readable:

"Russians launch first primate into space and it returned a......WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? July 7th, 1962"

 

As the picture implies, this is of course about the Cosmic Silverback encountered in the Dead Ops Arcades. It could be just a small hint to the DOA universe, but it might fit in the whole actual Aether story, you know.

 

Okay, so for all we know, the Russians send a primate in 1962 into space. Clever Rad noted that the Soviets started using primates for space programs only in the late 1980s, but I presume they started this earlier in classified space programs. Evidence for that follows later. 

 

"Not only were Homo Sapiens preceded on the Earth by apes, they were beaten into the void by our antecedents too. We've been sending monkeys into space since 1949. No one expected the pioneering primates to survive - after all - what creature could endure the searing radiation of the Van Allen belts? Who could have predicted that not only would those adventurous apes live, but once freed of gravity's tyranny - thrive in that alien environment? Highly classified footage returned by the early Apollo missions showed evidence of crude structures on the surface of our companion sphere. Of creatures looking up with vengeful eyes, plotting a return to their mother-world, eager to make us pay for abandoning them to the cold, cruel vastness of space."

 

In this intel found in the MP map Remnant, it is not only said that monkeys were shot into space since 1949, it is also said they were shot to the Moon! I believe what we see in Ascension plays a vital role in this: lunar landers. At the beginning of a monkey round, landers are seen crashing from the sky, exploding the same way as a PhD Flopper explosion. I believe the monkeys come from the Moon, and may have been trained to take Element 115 from the lunar surface back to Earth. The Soviets have injected them with the experimental PhD Flopper so they could survive any explosions and atmodpherical oddities, giving them to ability to do the jump and "boom" attack we encounter in Ascension that make them such nasty little fuckers. We made them stronger and angry, a dangerous combination. The prior seen intelligence also states the discovery of crude structures: Either the Vimañas we see in the loading screen if Moon or, more logically, Griffin Station. When playing Moon on BO3 and you enter the biodome, one can hear many sounds of exotic animals, some of which I believe, are monkeys. They are there and they are watching....

 

But still, next to their absolute justified angryness, what made them genuine evil? Believe it or not, even Zombies's last map made a shoutout to monkeys, our often reoccuring friends. (HERE COME SOME SPOILERS!)

 

"Yena: The blood uses negative space which exists between the molecules. This negative space provides an influx of energy. Which we believe fuels the blood, giving it the ability to move.

Gersh: Do you still believe that this blood is suitable for our primates? For rocket testing?

Yena: Absolutely. The blood gives them rejuvenation abilities, making them more powerful, stronger. If a monkey is on the brink of death and given an injection, it makes a full recovery in a matter of minutes. The only trade-off is they become more angry, hostile, even violent in some cases.

Gersh: Is this a problem?

Yena: It's manageable. But I'm confident monkeys given an injection of this blood will survive space flight."

 

It was not merely PhD the monkeys were injected with. Apothican blood was added, rejuvenation abilities, making them more powerful and stronger, but also corrupt and hardly manageable. The Ascension monkeys and the Cosmic Silverback have red eyes like they are controlled by a demon and as with their human counterparts, monkeys and apes seem to be just as vulnerable for the power and associated evil that the Dark Aether brings. 

 

You could expand this story as far as you want. What if the Cosmic Silverback came in contact with the MPD. Did the monkeys crash in Shangri La, explaining the pressence of the lunar lander debris and monkeys there. The monkey rocket in Shang? Cosmic Silverback has many brothers? Why are they such a reoccuring theme in our story? What do you think?

[RadZakpak]

A really interesting thread! I didn't know about that quote from Remnant, and while the canonicity can be debated, vengeful monkeys from space seems to be a common theme in both Ascension and Shangri-La. It can be inferred that Shangri-La was found at some point by the Russians before 1954 due to the lander present there with the Russian star symbol. We also know that landers are a lot more advanced in Zombies by this point than they were in real life, considering Ultimis used them to travel all the way from Berlin to Kazhakistan in only 9 days. Not to mention, they are built to hold up four people with armor and weaponry while in Earth's gravity, not just the Moon's. Group 935 must have been working on them before their scientists went to the Ascension Group, considering Richtofen directly requests one be placed at Kino before the Soviets even had a space program. What this all means is, it's not without reason that the monkeys could use these landers to travel from the Moon to Earth (in Ascension), and travel from Earth to the Moon (in Shangri-La). The only issue arises in the fact that the Space Race is still ongoing in the 1960s, with both people in America and the Soviet Union bringing up the race to reach the Moon and take Griffin Station:

 

Quote

Sawyer: Do I need to remind you what we're up against? Doctor Richtofen told us about Griffin Station back in '45. From what we've discovered, he told the Soviets the same thing. The Soviets achieved teleportation two years before we did. If they get to the Moon first, they get to claim Griffin Station.

 

Schuster: Yes, yes, I know all about your adorable space race, but need I remind you that if this teleporter becomes operational even a single mathematical error could lead to catastrophic results. Yes, it will take you to the Moon, I have little worried over where it would take you. I worry about when.

 

Quote

Gersh: And his proposal? This, uh, Agarthan Device, what do you make of this?

 

Yena: Personally, it sounds to good to be true, but this isn't the first I've heard of it. Doctor Richtofen had mentioned it as well.

 

Gersh: Just think, Harvey. A device capable of granting that which any man desire. I simply think it and (hits a table) bang! It is reality. We could beat Americans to Group 935's lunar facility, we could become leader of free world overnight!

It begs the question of why neither side has reached the Moon yet when lander technology seems to be good enough to accomplish it. The answer may be that only the Monkeys that have been injected with the Blood, and PHD as you suggested, could survive this journey, while humans could not. Perhaps the Blood has adverse effects on humans that make it not viable? It's also possible the focus is still heavily on teleportation from both sides, and despite Soviet success with landers and monkeys on the Moon, these same methods would not work with humans.

 

How does this apply to the Cosmic Silverback? I'm not sure. I think with this magazine, he may very well be canon, though I don't think Dead Ops itself is canon, it being a game within the universe based on the real Silverback. It makes you wonder, though... Was there a whole colony of Silverbacks somewhere during the events of Moon? If they are doing the bidding of the Apothicons, maybe this is why they never attack the players, but I am curious what they were building, exactly?

[anonymous]

I also suddenly think about the large primate skull seen both in the Shangri La loading screen and on Richtofen's altar. I always assumed this had to do with some kind of ancient aliens creating mankind from primitive primates or something: editing their DNA into humanoid, or possibly creating offspring with the apes resulting into alien-primate hybrides that are us. But maybe the skulls are about the Cosmic Silverback, who has reached Shangri La and found his final resting place.